Joe Cooke

The Wall Street Journal / Dow Jones

Senior Director, Strategy, Operations & Growth

Work across business strategy, operating performance and new ventures at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones. My responsibilities span operating plans, budget oversight, performance reviews and commercial development, with a particular focus on video, Opinion and new products.

• Business performance: Helped turn WSJ video into a profit center by reshaping its advertising, distribution and operating model, rebuilding its YouTube and off-platform strategy, and securing multi-year investments to expand WSJ video output.
• New ventures: Developed and launched Free Expression, WSJ Opinion’s first standalone product, taking it from business plan through launch and contributor hiring. Built newsletter subscribers to six figures in nine months.
• Product and business development: Launched Barron’s Investing Circle, expanded WSJ Games and developed the initial business plan approved for new investment in WSJ sports coverage.
• Partnerships and M&A: Led strategic reviews across six or more acquisition processes for Dow Jones’s consumer brands. Helped establish Dow Jones’s first partnership with Substack and developed commercial structures for working with external creators.
• AI and operations: Built AI into audience analysis, financial modelling and competitor research, making recurring work faster and more useful for business decisions. Work with News Corp’s AI Council on adoption and rollout strategy.

NBCUniversal News Group

Director, Global Strategy & Business Development

Associate → Manager → Director

Developed new businesses and commercial partnerships across NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, TODAY and Dateline. Worked across streaming, subscriptions, digital publishing, audio and commerce, helping established news brands reach new audiences and build new sources of revenue.

• Streaming: Helped build a streaming portfolio generating more than $150 million in annual revenue, spanning NBC News NOW, Dateline 24/7, American Crimes and TODAY All Day. Took NBC News NOW from business proposal through expansion; pitched Dateline 24/7 and developed its original greenlight business plan.
• Subscriptions, audio and commerce: Helped develop businesses around established journalism and talent, including CNBC Pro, Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investing Club, CNBC Select, The Chuck ToddCast and Rachel Maddow’s Ultra.
• Commercial partnerships: Negotiated more than 50 distribution and commercial agreements across streaming carriage, talent, advertising, sponsorship, licensing and joint ventures.
• International operations: Seconded as strategy advisor to Deborah Turness, President of NBC News International. Developed the editorial and operating plan for NBC-Sky World News, helped coordinate recruitment of more than 80 journalists, and planned its London headquarters and bureaus before COVID halted the launch.

NBCUniversal International

Corporate Development Manager

Worked across NBCUniversal’s international entertainment businesses, spanning corporate development, television production, distribution and film.

• Corporate development: Contributed to acquisition diligence, market-entry strategies and territory reviews, alongside strategy work on international streaming initiatives.
• TV studios and operations: Assessed international production markets, competitors and acquisition opportunities, supporting strategy for NBCUniversal’s television production businesses.
• Emerging distribution: Worked on new-media deal negotiations and the management of international YouTube assets as audiences and revenues shifted towards digital platforms.
• Film analytics: Built an international digital research programme at Universal Pictures to assess audience response and trailer performance across markets.

These roles formed part of NBCUniversal’s Future Leaders Programme.